Friday After Ash Wednesday

The Divine Test of a Person’s Worth is Not Theology but Life — Babylonian Talmud, Babba Kamma 38 a

One afternoon, I had lunch with a Catholic Priest along with a bunch of other men. The Priest was being peppered with questions, “How can you believe this, how can you believe that.” The table wanted him to repudiate certain doctrines of the Catholic faith. He listened for a while and said, “ I let Rome worry about theology, doctrine and dogma, I have my hands full with life.”

I doubt if he had studied the Babylonian Talmud, but he certainly had a handle on his ministry. He also had a handle on one of the essential gifts of Lent — putting ourselves back together to regain a sense of God.

During Lent we pray, we meditate, we sacrifice to bring ourselves closer to God. We don’t need to worry about what to believe; but instead, we focus on those obstacles in our life that separate us from God.Our Lenten journey is a process. On this third day of Lent, we ask God’s help with life and to be by our side during these 40 days. If we do belief will follow close behind.

PS: I know I have been too serious. Saturday is the day of mirth. Webb

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Are you ready for some Football?

Super Bowl Sunday is over for another year. There is so much hoopla that the game has become almost an afterthought. Commercials, half-time entertainment, pre-game drama dominate the airwaves for days. We plan elaborate parties, create special dishes, and listen for hours on end to prognosticators and celebrities predict the victor. This year we even had a Super Bowl Red Carpet, analysts predicting the winner by comparing the player’s girlfriends, and politicians calling for Congressional investigations into stealing sideline signals. Finally the game is played, and we experience a huge letdown. Like little children after unwrapping all the presents under the Christmas tree asking, “Is this all?”

This year the minimum ticket price exceeded $700. Imagine what a good ticket costs. We honor Christmas in the same way. Did we as a nation spend more than last year? Headlines read, “ Christmas season dissapoints! Only 4% growth in spending portends layoffs and lower stock prices.” The build up, the hype, and the anticipation dominate. Christmas itself gets lost.

Thank God for the Lenten season! We don’t have any TV commercials hyping prayer, fasting and meditation. Each day we feel better, not anxious. We begin to experience a calm. Simplicity begins to free us from our material culture. Lent honors and leads us to Easter. It doesn’t take away from it.

Lent, like Christ’s message, turns our world and culture upside down. If it caught on across the U.S., Congress would have to pass legislation banning it. This Lenten season enjoy being a radical. Webb

P.S. It was one hell of a game.

Ash Wednesday

I Abhor My Words Seeing That I Am Dust and Ashes — Job 42:6

We all have our favorite services. Mine is Thanksgiving. We also have some services that are not on the top of our list. For me, it is Ash Wednesday. It probably has something to do with that part where we hear, “ Remember that you are dust, and dust you shall return.”Do they have to remind me?

This year I decided to try to tackle my feeling of dread at attending the service. I pulled out my trusty Book of Common Prayer and read the entire service. My advancing years have taught me to not to take words or events out of context, and after reading the entire service I believe that my dread was a result of violating of my own admonition.

There is a lot there. Here are two gems:

Dear People of God:....It was also a time (speaking of the Lenten Season) when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution....


Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life....

A complete immersion in the Ash Wednesday service requires humility. Job’s statement requires real humility. God calls us to humility. The Lenten season helps us find that humility by recognizing that we need God. It is God that can help us overcome our shortcomings. This Lent we pray, practice self-denial, read and meditate on God’s word. In so doing we humbly kneel and are restored.

Now if I can just get over that “ dust you shall return” part.

Webb